US still supports 'elected leader' Nawaz Sharif: State Dept

State Department spokesperson Marie Harf says senior leadership of al Qaeda in Pakistan taken off the battlefield.

WASHINGTON: The US on Thursday extended a life-line to under pressure Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, maintaining their stance that they support the elected leader of Pakistan.

When asked during the daily briefing whether the US still supports Nawaz Sharif despite allegations that the May 2013 elections were a fraud, US State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said that “Well, yes, we still do. He is the elected leader. We’ve said that repeatedly...”

Pressed about Imran Khan's allegations that the 2013 elections were fraud and fake, Harf insisted on the US view. “We have said that Nawaz Sharif is the elected leader of Pakistan.”

“We’ve consistently said that the US encourages all the parties to work together to resolve their differences through dialogue; also, though, oppose any efforts to impose extra-constitutional change to the democratic system,” Harf added.

She said the US continues to carefully monitor the demonstration and that the US ambassador is in contact with Pakistani officials.

Senior al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan 'taken off the battlefield'

In light of the new video released by al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, in which he announced a new branch in the Indian subcontinent, the US said it was not able to verify the 'propaganda announcement' and reiterated that the senior leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan had been decimated.

“It’s al Qaeda senior leadership in the tribal areas primarily of Pakistan, also some in Afghanistan, and that core leadership has been decimated. That’s a fact,” she said.

Asked about the message of the video, Harf insisted that the US had not been able to verify whether it signified the launch of any new capabilities.

“We haven’t been able to verify that yet. Obviously, we’re looking to see if there’s more information we can get about this here. We have remained committed to dismantling al Qaeda anywhere that it poses a threat to the United States, make sure it doesn’t again pose a threat to the United States, particularly in that region. We also don’t regard this announcement as an indication of any new capabilities by al Qaeda.”

When pressed on how she could dismiss the video, Harf said they had not been able to verify so far that “there’s actually some sort of new group out there that is in any way active.”

“The core of al Qaeda’s leadership except for Zawahiri, of the senior leadership in al Qaeda in Pakistan, has been taken off the battlefield.”

To prover her point, Harf pointed towards the series of successions of number threes in al Qaeda, a host of other senior leaders in al Qaeda who had been killed and how these leaders had been replaced with new fighters who were less capable, significantly less trained, they had much less capability.

However, Harf admitted that there is al Qaeda presence in other parts of the region. “That’s not anything new. But in terms of an announcement about some sort of new branch, we judge – the US government judges that this is not an indication of new capabilities. We have nothing to indicate that there are new capabilities here.”